Gracefully {Loki X OC}

15. Monkey Joe

A few weeks had passed since the world had been in danger. And life had been good. Of course there were reporters who were constantly trying to speak with me, but I didn't mind. I was in a good mood, Fury had given me a month of vacation, and after that I only needed to come in if he needed me to. 

Life was great. The new rooms were all done so we lived in the tower. Bruce, dad, I and sometimes Pepper, if she wasn't on her usual business trips. I liked it better when she was around though, she was fun, and she made sure dad took care of himself.

When I looked at my phone after the fight I had a lot of missed calls. Most of them from my mom. I called her after we had locked up Loki and before going for shawarma. She had been worried all day long, but I promised her we were okay.

Dad and Bruce were in the lab a lot and I trained almost every day in our new gym. And whenever my brain wasn't busy I started to wonder. About who had send Loki. Who wanted Earth so desperately that they asked a god to take it? What would they have done if Loki had succeeded. 

The punshingbag I practised on had Loki's face on it in my mind. I had been nice to him, and he just didn't care. I offered him a listening ear and he didn't talk. 

Clint and Nat came over a few times for dinner, and we talked about everything but the fight. And whenever Steve came around as well we would have a game night. Those were some good days. But the best ones were when Steve and I did movie nights. Star-Wars were the first movies we watched, and after that almost every Disney and Pixar movie that had been released. I couldn't believe I was friends with Steve Rogers, he had always been a hero of mine. 

After a week I decided to no longer rent the apartment I had been living in. So I asked Steve if he would help me move my stuff. 

We were packing everything when I found two big boxes in the bottom of my closet. H.S. was written on them. I put them on my coffee table and called Steve from the kitchen. 

" What's in there?" he asked me. 

I sat down on the couch and said " Stuff from my grandfather." 

Steve recognized the initials and sat down next to me. I opened up the box and took some comics out of it. 

" He collected everything." I told Steve " He even kept a recording of your shows."

Steve smiled " Did you watch them?" 

"Who's strong and brave, here to save the American Way?" I sang.    

" Oh god," he laughed " Do you know the whole song?" he asked amused. 

" I do actually." I laughed, " I used to stand in front of the TV and do the whole routine. My huge teddy bear got knocked out a lot." I told him. 

" Did he play Hitler?" Steve asked still laughing.

" He sure did." I told him. I pulled out picture of him, Bucky and grandpa. They looked so happy. 

Steve looked at it with a sad smile. " I haven't seen a picture of Bucky since the 40s." he said. 

" He looks like a good guy." I told him. 

" He was." he confirmed. 

" Here, put it up in your new place." I told him and handed him the picture. 

" Thanks." he said and took it. I closed the boxes and we started packing again. When we were done we drove the boxes to the tower and I unpacked everything. I put my Captain America and Iron Man mugs in the kitchen cabinets. I felt truly at home.

One morning I got woken up by my dad who kept knocking on my door. 

" What?!" I asked him annoyed. 

" There is someone downstairs in the lobby who claims she's your friend." 

I rolled my eyes, there had been tons of reporters who had tried that strategy. " Tell them to go away." I told him. 

" I tried, she keeps on saying to tell you Monkey Joe misses you." Monkey Joe? Doreen? I jumped out of my bed and ran to the elevator. 

" I guess it's not a reporter." dad said when I ran past. 

" It's Doreen!" I yelled excited when the elevator door closed. 

When the doors opened in the lobby I could see her standing around. " Doreen!" I shouted and ran towards her. 

" Grace!" she yelled excited as well and we hugged each other. 

" What are you doing here?" I asked her " I thought you were in Italy for an exchange program." 

She shook her head " I came back yesterday." she told me. 

I heard a sound coming from her backpack. A smile appeared on my face " Is Monkey Joe in there?" I asked her. She opened the bag and the squirrel jumped on my shoulder. " Hi there little guy." I said while petting him. 

" Did you just wake up?" Doreen asked me. 

I looked at what I was wearing, pyjamas. " Oh yeah." I smiled " I can change so we can grab a coffee or something." I told her. 

" Can we do that tomorrow?" she asked " I kinda need to unpack everything today." 

" Of course." I told her. I handed Monkey Joe back to her and we said goodbye. I had missed her.